Jay Mandeville

The Beautiful Idea - Poem by Jay Mandeville

One Spring day Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) goes for a rambling country stroll, walking through fields until, as he later writes, 'the beautiful idea withinthe dew' comes to him, because he encountersneighbors purposely washingtheir faces in it, kneeling while he standswatching them gatherglittering dropletsin the morning sun.This, Pepys sees at once, is the way that May shouldproperly begin.

He remembers thiscustom lifelong, and even dreamsabout it - a fortunateomen.